With over 11 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, David Dobrik is one of the most popular vloggers on the planet. He got his start on Vine, and then transitioned to YouTube, starting his channel in 2016. In just three short years, Dobrik has become one of the biggest vloggers on the platform.
He was born in Slovakia and immigrated to the U.S. when he was 6 years old. By his account, he was an “American kid.” While some children are pushed by their parents to succeed, David was a self-starter. He said, “I always knew I wanted to work hard at something. Now, I have something (YouTube) to work hard at. I just need to not stop and keep going. And that’s what I really like.”
After high school, his parents gave him an ultimatum: Either go to college or move out. David chose the latter.
He moved to LA with three friends and they struggled to survive in the beginning. Dobrik remembers, “We were at the grocery store and buying peanut butter and bread, and other groceries, and the total came to $25. I looked at my friend and said, ‘I don’t know if we can do this.’ And he was very confident in the beginning but he said, ‘I had no idea it was going to be like this.’ It was just this moment of panic. I just remember how scared we were.”
He continued, “I always loved the saying, ‘Fortune favors the brave.’ And it’s true. There are like 15 people that came out to LA around the same time and they all left.”
He supported himself, in the beginning, by running Vine accounts under different names. He ran sports accounts, and would upload sports clips, and then sell revines on those accounts. He was entrepreneurial from the beginning. He said, “I was making like $1,500 or $2,000 a month and I was thinking, ‘I’m loaded! I can’t believe this.’ I would go to Jimmy Johns every day and sometimes get two #5 Vitos (sandwich meals) because I didn’t even care!”
Around this time Vine was going away, so all the influencers jumped over to YouTube. The big Viners were doing huge productions and renting sets, but David took a different approach. Dobrik said, “I met Liza Koshy around that time and she was filming a vlog and I really liked that it was a small camera and you could just record your whole day. That was so cool! I filmed my first vlog and I think it worked because I wasn’t trying to make it work. I was just doing it for my own enjoyment.”
His advice to aspiring creators is the same thing. “If you’re in it for the money, there is no way you will ever make it! Never. That’s not going to get you there at all. I just made fun video with my friends. That’s the key. Actually that’s not the key. Laughs. Don’t watch this and take tips from me. Just go do you. If people see that you’re passionate about what you’re creating, they’re going to enjoy it.”
He still films videos with his friends, affectionately know as the Vlog Squad. He also films with mainstream celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Kendall Jenner and John Stamos.
His work ethic is another reason for his success. Dobrik has posted three videos a week for four years. He doesn’t take a break for holidays, birthdays or vacations. He also hosts a popular podcast, “VIEWS With David Dobrik And Jason Nash.” But he realizes that he can’t keep up this pace forever.
The podcast is a way to diversify. Dobrik said, “I want to be a late night host and the podcast is a way for me to do longer form interviews and to get better at interviewing.”
Dobrik continued, “You Tube is temporary. It’s like, ‘How long can one keep this up for?’ And that’s why I do interviews like this. Because maybe someone will watch this and get me a job as a manager at a movie theater one day. Laughs. Because this is going to crumble and I’m going to have a nervous breakdown and there will be pictures of me on the side of Hollywood Boulevard.”
While many YouTubers have suffered burnout, David has continued to create consistent content, and there appears to be no signs of slowing down.
When he was a kid, David Dobrik searched for something to work hard at. He found YouTube and hasn’t stopped since.
